They All Come Out (1939)

Sadly Over-hyped

Nice effects though.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

This was on TCM for the first time in years the other day, and at first I was surprised at how much it seemed like a documentary - specifically one of the "Crime Does Not Pay" shorts MGM did. Actually, it started out that way and Louis Mayer liked it so much he asked that it be expanded into a feature film. Tom Neal stars as Joe Cameron, made an unemployable vagrant by a wounded hand that made him unfit for manual labor and with him not knowing a trade, on the road he went, often picked up by the police for not having a dollar. Hungry, he orders a big meal at a diner that he knows he can't pay for and is bailed out of his troubles by gun moll Kitty Carson (Rita Johnson). This is how he winds up entangled with Reno Madigan's gang, with the job of driving for them whenever they pull jobs. At first they live it up, but they are eventually captured. But not before Reno and Joe hide 33K in stolen loot but do not tell the others about it. The rest of the film is about how the federal prison system treats each one of the gang - even operating on Joe's hand and teaching him a trade. The lesson seems to be that the feds know who is redeemable and who isn't, and if you're not it's off to "The Rock" - Alcatraz. Before their capture, Joe and Kitty seem to have an understated romance going, and during their imprisonment they are allowed to write letters where this romance seems to blossom. But against them when they get out is their record, local papers looking for sensational stories, and then there is still Reno inside prison expecting Joe to help spring him with the 33K they hid. And Reno has friends on the outside. I doubt that the federal prison system was ever that good, and even if it was, I doubt a prison psychiatrist could just talk a seemingly crazy man out of believing he had women in his pockets and cure him with talk alone. imdb currently rates this as a 6/10, but knowing its roots as a short/documentary, I'd give it a 7/10. The leads give real depth to their rather rushed performances, and it is an interesting tale.

Copyright 11 July 1939 by Loew's Inc. An M-G-M picture. New York opening at Loew's Criterion: 2 August 1939. U.S. release: 14 July 1939. Australian release: Not recorded. 70 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Gangsters try to prevent an ex-convict going straight. NOTES: Made with the active collaboration and approval of the United States Department of Justice, with scenes photographed inside federal prisons at Alcatraz, Atlanta, Springfield, Chillicothe.Originally made as a 2-reel short subject in M-G-M's "Crime Does Not Pay" series, They All Come Out was expanded to 4 reels and then to 7 because of Louis B. Mayer's interest in the project (and the fact that it had such powerful government support and co-operation). "It's too good for 4 reels," Mayer is quoted as saying; "so let's make it 7!"COMMENT: Director Jacques Tourneur's first feature, this semi-documentary lauding the efficiency of the U.S. prisons system (both in reforming those who want to reform and surprisingly putting out of society's way those prisoners deemed incorrigible) was Tourneur's first U.S. feature. Apparently it was originally intended as a 2-reeler and gradually grew like Topsy. All the same, despite a great many scenes of self-congratulatory paper-shuffling (yes, paper-shuffling, it's one of the few movies that presents bureaucracy in action in great detail, which itself is actually rather interesting), the scriptwriter presents us with a well-rounded assortment of characters that maintain audience interest and/or sympathy. Attractively photographed, Rita Johnson comes across well as the reformed moll, and if Tom Neal seems a little too eager-beaver as the reformed hero he does share a nicely atmospheric, superbly photographed and sharply edited run-in with gangster Paul Fix ("I don't mind doing Reno a favor if there's something in it for me.") at the climax. Bernard Nedell is thoroughly convincing as the don't-let-them-make-a-sucker-out-of-you incorrigible, and there's even sizable parts for not-overbright but eager to reform Edward Gargan and downright crazy John Gallaudet ("Tell me, these women that you keep finding in your pockets, are they pygmies or regular-sized?" - "Both."). Real locations add to the film's authenticity in a movie that despite the co-operation and endorsement of the prisons system pulls only two major punches (there's no hint of overcrowding or sub-standard conditions, but the scenes on Alcatraz are absolutely terrifying all the same; and of course there's no such animals as corrupt prison officers). Tourneur directs with confidence and a sure hand, keeping the interesting documentary flavor yet using angles and compositions that are dramatically effective and even an occasional burst of dazzlingly fluid camerawork (very suitable for the upbeat conclusion). All in all, this is a B-feature that is well worth a look.

Apparently Louis Mayer liked the CRIME DOESN'T PAY short in progress so much that he had director Jacques Tourneur expand it into his first American feature -- he had directed a couple in France in the early 1930s. It's about how Rita Johnson picks up tramp Tom Neal and gets him a job .... as driver for the gang of bank robbers she is a member of. They are caught by the Feds and sent to prison, whereupon the story shifts to show how they fare in prison, some being rehabilitated, some sinking into permanent incarceration.It's an early and well-directed piece by Tourneur, primary because of the clipped manner in which the dialogue is directed. It's an outgrowth of the shorts series, and Tourneur keeps the pace up, with people going about their work fast and eficiently, with some nice camerawork by Paul Vogel and Clyde de Vinna, Neal is shown being trained in a machine shop and I think that that dramatic lighting, including some shots that are illuminated largely by oxy-acetylene torch, are by de Vinna.

What starts out as a typical criminals-on-the-lam movie turns into a didactic moral lesson to prove to its probably youthful viewers that crime does not pay. What is surprising is that in spite of the clichés, the talented acting of the principles make the film much more poignant than it could have been. Tom Neal (most memorable in the classic "Detour") plays with youthful sincerity. His conversion makes it hard to believe that later he was involved in a violent and criminal life himself and actually did time for murder. Rita Johnson is completely winning, as opposed to her obnoxious character as Ray Milland's girlfriend in "The Major and the Minor". She brings her own sincerity to her stereotyped character and makes it more believable. The emotional impact of the film is also the result of the script's mixed dramatic and documentary approach showing the characters from inside and out, and Jacques Tourneur's perfect pacing.